Leadership and Business Growth

Hey Leader 🙌

This week’s leadership lesson?

Extreme ownership.

Everything is your responsibility.

Even when it’s not your fault.

I drove this home at the 10X Intensive Workshop I taught with Bedros Keuilian and Jay Redman last Saturday. 

A room full of ambitious entrepreneurs, 2 of whom want to own a FitBody. 

Hungry. 

Locked in.

I shared something raw, personal, and true.

Nine years of sobriety from alcohol. 

And while Harvard addiction expert Dr. Sarah Wakeman says 60% of alcoholism is genetic, and child trauma triggers another 20%, guess what?

That still doesn’t let me off the hook.

It wasn’t my fault.

But it’s still my responsibility.

That’s the leadership code and my leadership lesson today.

When your business hits the wall.

When your team drops the ball.

When chaos shows up uninvited.

Don’t point. Don’t excuse. Don’t wait.

Own it.

Because leaders don’t get the luxury of blame.

They get the burden and the blessing of responsibility.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility, even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You, Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power, use it.

Hey Leader 🙌

In 1645, the world’s most feared samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, wrote The Dokkōdō, 21 principles to live and lead by.

He penned these on his deathbed with no fluff. 

Just truth forged through blood, battles, and discipline.

Today, these laws serve as timeless leadership principles for those who dare to step above the noise and lead with moral authority.

Here are three standouts I coach my top leaders with:

1. “Accept everything just the way it is.”

This isn’t surrender, it’s power. Stop wishing the market was easier, your team was different, or the economy more forgiving. Accept reality fast, then adapt even faster.

2. “Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.”

Your gut will lie to you. Your feelings will fade. Your leadership must be built on clarity, not moods. Decide from principles, not pressure, and then go all in!

3. “Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.”

Translation? Take full ownership. Respect mentors, coaches, and divine guidance. But your business, your culture, and your results? That’s on you.

Musashi lived with radical discipline. He built mastery by saying no to distraction, ego, and comfort. That’s the real work of leadership.

So this week, I challenge you:

Pick one principle from The Dokkōdō.

Live it.

Lead from it.

Teach it to your team.

Because in the world of business, just like battle, your leadership principles are your edge.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader 🙌

Jocko Willink nailed it in Dichotomy of Leadership:

Great leaders must operate from 30,000 feet, seeing what others can’t. 

The trends, the vision, the next strategic strike.

But the best ones?

They know when to descend. 

Boots on the ground. 

Eye to eye with their people.

That dichotomy was front and center this past weekend in Georgia.

On the surface, I was there with my media team to capture content and grow our brand.

But the real mission?

Connection.

I shook hands with our rock star owners, Joey and Courtney, hugged our coaches/clients, and listened, really listened, to the wins and struggles of the people building Fit Body from the front lines.

As CEO, my calendar pulls me sky high.

But true leadership isn’t built only at 30,000 feet.

It’s built in conversations, in proximity, in presence.

That’s the lesson today:

You’ve got to live in both worlds. 

Because strategy without connection becomes arrogance, and connection without strategy becomes chaos.

The dirty boots give you the truth. 

The aerial view gives you direction.

You need both.

So here’s the question:

Are you too high up to feel your team’s pulse?

Or too deep in the weeds to steer the ship?

Adjust accordingly.

Because leadership lives in the tension.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader 🙌

Let’s talk about the final lever in the Phoenix Transformation: Leveraging the adversity. 

This is the moment your story stops being about you and starts being about the people you’re called to lead.

For me, it started with pain.

20 years ago, I got embarrassed about my fitness. I was called out for having “islands for nipples” at a pool party, trying to impress some girls.

Now it’s trivial and even funny. 

But in the moment, it wrecked me and also fueled me. It lit the fire for what I now call my anti-mission: a self-centered pursuit to never be out of shape again.

But here’s the thing about transformation: if you stick with it, the mission matures.

After pulling the first four levers of transformation, forging the body, reflecting, and reframing, something shifts.

The pain that once crushed me?

It became my advantage.

More than that, it becomes fuel for others.

That’s what Lever 5 is all about. It’s the pivot from personal victory to collective impact. From “how do I fix me?” to “how can I help them?”

You leverage it when you lead others on the same path that once brought you to your knees.

Through coaching, business, and bold leadership.

Because here’s the truth: the real win isn’t just overcoming adversity, it’s building a legacy that helps others overcome theirs.

If you’re still sitting on your story, afraid to share it, let this be your sign:

Your past was the price of admission.

Your future is the reward.

And your impact?

That’s the mission now: To inspire fitness and change lives every day.

This is how you leverage!

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

PS Stay tuned as the book will be released in early 2026, and details to come!

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader 🙌

Here’s a hard truth that will either set you free or keep you stuck:

Adversity is not your enemy; your interpretation of it is.

This week’s Leadership Lesson is about reframing adversity. 

I’m borrowing this from a man who faced hell on earth and lived to tell the story, the late Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning.

He said the last human freedom is the ability to choose your response. That includes the stories you tell yourself when things go sideways.

Let me be blunt. 

Most leaders waste time resisting adversity. 

Great leaders reframe it.

The bad hire.

The lost sale.

The partner who bailed.

The rock-bottom moment you never saw coming.

Every one of those moments can become a leadership lever if you ask three critical questions:

How did this benefit me?

What superpower did I gain?

How am I now better because of this?

Do that, and you’ll stop seeing adversity as a roadblock and start mining it for meaning.

Because there’s always gold in the ashes.

So, like the 4th lever of the Phoenix Transformation teaches: reframe it.

Make it a powerful week.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader! 🙌

After last week’s New Year message, we’re back on the Phoenix Lever Trail, unpacking the five levers in the Adversity Is Your Advantage system.

Today’s focus? Lever #3: Reflect

Now’s the moment to look in the rearview, not just to remember, but to reveal.

Because the deeper your reflection, the clearer your forecast.

Here’s my go-to recovery meets Stoicism framework: Speak, See, Stabilize

1. Speak it. Dump the clutter. Journal it. Say it out loud. Bring truth into the light, where it loses its grip.
2. See it. Borrowing from the Stoics: Memento Mori. Remember, you will die. Not morbid, clarifying. It brings perspective and urgency, which helps you focus on what matters.
3. Stabilize it. Enter Premeditatio Malorum, pre-meditate what could go wrong. This isn’t pessimism, it’s prep work. It’s grounding before the storm.

Apply this model and something powerful happens: clarity rises, emotion settles, and adversity begins to look like strategy.

Here’s the truth: Leadership demands reflection.

Without it, you’re guessing. With it, you’re guiding.

So carve out time this week, yes, even time you think you don’t have, to speak truth, clean your lens, and stabilize your vision.

This is how leaders reflect to create results.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader! 🙌

Before we dive back into the Levers of your Phoenix Transformation, I want to hit pause and give you something rare…

A clean slate.

Because as the calendar flips, most people sprint into the New Year by stacking more.

More goals.
More hacks.
More habits.

But here’s what I’ve learned over 20 years of building businesses, coaching teams, and living in the trenches:

Success rarely starts with addition.

It starts with subtraction.

If you want to become the leader, the parent, the partner, or the teammate, you know you’re meant to be in 2026. Here’s your first move:

Let go.

Let go of what’s weighing you down.
Let go of what no longer fits the mission.
Let go of the parking brakes disguised as “priorities.”

Ask yourself:

“What is standing in the way of who I want to become?”

Not what to do, but what to delete.

This is your moment to cut, clear, and cleanse.

Because truth is…

You can’t fly if you’re dragging anchors.
You can’t scale if you’re shackled to outdated identities.

So don’t just make a to-do list this January as a 2026 resolution. 

Make a “stop doing” list.

Lighten the load and watch your leadership elevate.

Let’s make 2026 the year you move freely, powerfully, and on purpose.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader! 🙌

Last week, I shared the first Phoenix Lever: Embrace the Adversity.

Today? We tackle the second. And let me warn you, it’s the hardest, grounded in self-mastery.

Phoenix Lever #2: Forge Through the Adversity 🔥

Because rock bottom isn’t the end.

It’s the beginning of the forge, the crucible where character gets built, and greatness gets born.

But here’s the rub:

Most people never make it out.

They get stuck in survival mode. Clinging to comfort. Avoiding feedback. Living the same year over and over, 10X in a row.

Leaders don’t have that luxury.

To forge through adversity, you must embrace what I call Proximity-Driven Optimization:

1. Cultivate Curiosity: Your ego won’t fix the problem. Questions will.
2. Seek Guidance Through Proximity: Get close to someone who’s already walked the path. Borrow their belief. Implement their systems.
3. Optimize Through Feedback: Let it sting. Then let it shape you.

That’s the self-mastery loop of Forge.

That’s how you grow.

You don’t need 100 steps. You need one conversation. One mentor. One piece of feedback was acted on with courage.

And when you do? You emerge stronger, wiser, and more dangerous.

This week, ask yourself:

Where am I stuck?

Who’s already solved this?

What data/feedback am I avoiding?

Then get in proximity. 

Ask. Apply. Optimize.

Because the forge never feels good, but it always produces gold.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader! 🙌

Adversity is life’s guarantee.

It doesn’t ask permission.

It shows up, unannounced, uninvited, and usually when you least expect it.

And when it does?

You have two options:

Get crushed by the weight,

Or use it to rise.

This is where the Phoenix Levers come in, a five-step framework I engineered to transform life’s toughest moments into the fuel for your next level. 

It’s the backbone of my upcoming book in Q1 2026, and today, I’m giving you the first lever.

Lever #1: Embrace the Flames

Before you can rise, you must stop resisting the fire. You have to face the truth that adversity isn’t the detour; it’s the path.

For me, that realization started in the backseat of a cold Michigan car, listening to my mom explain why we couldn’t ask for candy at the grocery store when I wasn’t even 10.

 I didn’t know the word for it back then, but that was my first Phoenix moment.

No one was coming to save us.

So I stepped up, became a 12-year-old soccer referee, started bringing home money, and took ownership.

That same instinct has guided me ever since. And it’s something I’ve seen in every elite leader I coach:

They don’t flinch when life gets hard.

They embrace the flames, they rise from them.

So here’s your leadership call to action:

Think about your current challenge. Then stop asking, “Why is this happening to me?”

Start asking, “How can I use this?”

Because the fire isn’t here to destroy you,

It’s here to forge you.

And if you let it, you’ll come out the other side stronger, wiser, and more equipped to lead.

Next week, I’ll reveal Phoenix Lever #2.

Until then, lead through the fire.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader! 🙌

Let’s talk about discomfort. 

Not the kind that sneaks up on you, but the kind you choose.

In August 2015, I landed in Brazil and met a woman who changed my life. Tatiana. She spoke perfect English. I didn’t speak a word of Brazilian Portuguese.

Then, with incredible teachers, her mom, Cristina, my tutor, Mara, and living in Brazil for 2 years, I slowly built conversational fluency.

But here’s the truth: for 15 years, Tatiana and I stuck to my language. 

Why? Because it was easier. More efficient. Comfortable. 

But leadership doesn’t live in comfort.

This past July, I met a new friend from Italy. He spoke five languages. 

His secret? He practiced with the people he loved. When he started dating a Mexican woman, he immediately switched their language to Spanish.

And that hit me like a bolt of lightning.

I realized: My ego had been holding me back. I didn’t want to feel dumb. I didn’t want to be corrected. I chose comfort over growth.

It shone a light on my own insecurity and frustrated me.

So I asked Tatiana, “Can we make Portuguese our new home language?”

Without hesitation, she said yes.

And after 5 months of deliberate discomfort at home, my fluency has skyrocketed faster than the previous five years combined.

Here’s the leadership lesson:

If you want to grow, get uncomfortable on purpose.

You don’t level up by staying efficient. You grow when you risk looking silly, when you admit you’re not the best, and when you let discomfort sharpen your edge.

Deliberate discomfort is the price of real growth.

My friend, make the investment.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.